Assemblywoman Hooks urges Willets Point ferry stop

Assemblymember Hooks is joining us virtually.

If you're able to testify right now.

Hair muted.

Oh, everyone.

Hello.

Yep.

Can you all hear me?

We can hear you.

Hi, everyone.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to testify on behalf of the ferry stop, an additional ferry stop at the Willis Point Flushing Bay Promenade.

I just would like to say I am Assemblywoman Lorinda Huggs, and I do sit on the Committee for Transportation as well as Economic Development in the New York State Assembly.

I want to thank the ADC for their presentation today on their vision plan for the ferry.

I just want to put a lot of things into perspective why this site is such a viable site for a furry stop.

And that is, and I want to echo also my colleague, my city council colleague, Chanel Thomas-Henry, and ditto everything that she has said thus far.

But this area, just to put in perspective, has the LaGuardia Airport, the New York Mets, the New York

City Football Club Soccer Stadium that's coming, GovBall, the Queens Museum, the USTA, Metropolitan Park that's coming, several 5K walks, the Unisphere,

the Hermanos Vasquez Circus, the Hong Kong Dragon Ball Festival, the Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

Each entity has a minimum of 5K people to over 25,000 people per event per year.

Then on top of that, this area has now become a tourist destination boom.

On top of that,

We have the Willis Point 2,500 residential units, and we also have two projects currently coming up of affordable housing projects.

That's 537 units for one facility, and I forgot about the number of...

The number of units for the other one, I can't really think of it in my head right now.

But needless to say, there has always been a conversation in the community about having a ferry stop to help alleviate the 7 train.

The 7 train is already like bursting.

out the seams with people and it's already overtaxed.

As you now have targeted the East Elmers community for development of large housing projects, you combine that with the fact that there seems to be historically a bad practice of putting the cart before the horse.

Development projects are being fast-tracked and infrastructure is being slow-walked.

As we provide development, we have a fiscal responsibility and we must be prudent to build an infrastructure to sustain it before they are completed.

Now, I want to just say I know that there was some, he's not there, so he can't answer the question, but I know there has been some minor study as far as being able to dock closer to the promenade.

But I don't think that there was a study, and I'm asking that there is a study.

There's already a dock on the side of the Guadalquivir Airport for larger, heavier vessels.

If that can be added to the vision study for the ferry stop as well.

I think that would be a viable spot for it because it was already built to sustain that type of vessel.

So I just wanted to put my bid in to say, you know, please really, really look at this being a ferry stop for this area.

Thank you.

Thank you all.